Friday, March 14, 2014

- Rock 'n' Roll: Digging the Driveway

The Halloween flood in the Austin area was bad news for a lot of folks, some of whom got as much as 12 inches of rain. We were fortunate to only get 7 inches with no damage to the house.

The driveway, on the other hand, didn't fare too well. It was already in need of regrading and more gravel, so the flood made a bad situation even worse.

The gravel was scoured down to the bedrock in some places and much of it ended up in the field behind the house.

The good news is my daughter and son-in-law recommended CSK Pavers in Dripping Springs. CSK regraded the driveway and added 36 cubic yards of road base to fill in the low spots. They also moved some large rocks from the front and side yards, creating a rockwall to dam the end of the driveway.

If it floods in the future, the dam should slow down the runoff enough to drop the gravel out of suspension. We've already had a dry-run of sorts (sorry, bad choice of words) when it rained 1.75 inches in two hours just a couple of days after work was completed ... everything stayed where it belonged.

Of course, if we have a true gully washer there will be a fair bit of gravel to relocate and a heckuva good opportunity for a workout.

It's a long way from Williamsburg, Virginia to the Texas Hill Country, but I've never looked back. Instead, my days are full of stitching, natural dyeing, assemblage art appreciation, grandparenting, cactus whacking, Americana music and Tex-Mex cooking ... not to mention wildflowers and critters.
As local bard Robert Earl Keen says, "The road goes on forever & the party never ends."